10 January 2010

A Long Way Gone

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah should be read by everyone. It is such a extraordinarily impacting book. I think it's a memoir that all should experience in order to open their eyes and hearts to some tragic happenings in our world today, and to finding the inspiration, through these pages, to do something about it.

New York City, 1998

MY HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my life.

"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?"

"Because there is war."

"Did you witness some of the fighting?"

"Everyone in the country did."

"You mean you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?"

"Yes, all the time."

"Cool."

I smile a little.

"You should tell us about it sometime."

"Yes, sometime."


2 comments:

  1. have you been inspired to do something? If so, share with us!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was going to make a joke about how "Death Troopers" is inspiring me right now too but I rethought my comment and figured it would be bad form :/ I'm sorry for having the thought. Anyway, I tink its wondeful that you have a capacity for compassion that most of us lack... Hopefully more of it will rub off on me!

    ReplyDelete